Oxytocin Controls Chondrogenesis and Correlates with Osteoarthritis.

This study investigated the relationship of oxytocin (OT) to chondrogenesis and osteoarthritis (OA). Human bone marrow and multipotent adipose-derived stem cells were cultured in vitro in the absence or presence of OT and assayed for mRNA transcript expression along with histological and immunohistochemical analyses. To study the effects of OT in OA in vivo, a rat model and a human cohort of 63 men and 19 women with hand OA and healthy controls, respectively, were used.

First family case of haemoglobinopathy Titusville in France and literature overview.

Normal haemoglobin is a tetramer molecule, consisting of two α and β haemoglobin chains. Haemoglobinopathies occur when abnormalities in these proteins are present. More than 1000 naturally occurring human haemoglobin variants with single amino acid substitution throughout the molecule have been identified and can be discovered through their clinical and biological manifestations.

Is interstitial 8p23 microdeletion responsible of 46,XY gonadal dysgenesis? One case report from birth to puberty.

Background: Chromosome 8p deletions are associated with a variety of conditions, including cardiac abnormalities, mental, behavioral problems with variable morphotype and genitourinary anomalies in boys.

Methods: We describe the follow-up over almost 15 years of a boy who initially presented with perineal hypospadias with a micropenis and cryptorchidism with 46,XY DSD.

Results: Imaging, pathology, and hormonal exploration suggested gonadal dysgenesis.

Endocrine Disrupting Chemicals Interfere With Leydig Cell Hormone Pathways During Testicular Descent in Idiopathic Cryptorchidism.

Cryptorchidism, a frequent genital malformation in male newborn, remains in most cases idiopathic. On the basis of experimental, epidemiological, and clinical data, it has been included in the testicular dysgenesis syndrome and believed to be influenced, together with genetic and anatomic factors, by maternal exposure to endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs). Here, we analyze how EDCs may interfere with the control of testicular descent, which is regulated by two Leydig cell hormones, testosterone, and insulin like peptide 3 (INSL3).

Association of abdominal aortic aneurysm diameter with insulin resistance index.

Introduction: Epidemiological studies have highlighted a negative association between diabetes and abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA). The aim of this study was to investigate the association between insulin resistance and AAA size.

Materials And Methods: This prospective cross sectional monocentric study analysed fasting blood samples from 55 patients with AAA eligible for surgical repair.

Positive Association of High Leptin Level and Abdominal Aortic Calcification in Men - The Prospective MINOS Study.

Background: Severe abdominal aortic calcification (AAC) points to high cardiovascular risk and leptin stimulates arterial calcification; however, clinical data on their association are scarce. We studied the link between serum leptin and AAC severity and progression, and the effect of smoking and lipid levels, on this association in men.

Methods and results: At baseline, 548 community-dwelling men aged 50-85 years underwent blood collection and lateral lumbar spine radiography.

Is Inappropriate Response to Cosyntropin Stimulation Test an Indication of Corticosteroid Resistance in Septic Shock?

We recently published a comparison of two hydrocortisone dosage regimens in patients with septic shock. We compare the results conferred by the two regimens as a function of the response to cosyntropin stimulation test (CST). Patients with septic shock were treated by one of two hydrocortisone regimens: either a 50-mg intravenous bolus every 6 h during 7 days (200 mg group; n = 49), or a 100-mg initial bolus followed by a continuous infusion of 300 mg daily for 5 days (300 mg group; n = 50).

Insights on glicentin, a promising peptide of the proglucagon family.

Glicentin is a proglucagon-derived peptide mainly produced in the L-intestinal cells. While the roles of other members of the proglucagon family including glucagon-like peptide 1, glucagon-like peptide 2 and oxyntomodulin has been well studied, the functions and variation of glicentin in human are not fully understood. Experimental and clinical studies have highlighted its role in both intestinal physiology and glucose metabolism, pointing to its potential interest in a wide range of pathological states including gastrointestinal and metabolic disorders.

Fasting Circulating Glicentin Increases After Bariatric Surgery.

Introduction: Bariatric surgery including the Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB) and the laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy (LSG) is a well-established therapeutic option for patients with morbid or severe obesity. Metabolic modifications observed after bariatric surgery are thought to be, at least partly, linked to hormonal changes. While variation of several proglucagon-derived peptides during bariatric surgery is well documented, little is known about glicentin.

High serum oxytocin is associated with metabolic syndrome in older men - The MINOS study.

Aim: Oxytocin regulates food intake, carbohydrate and lipid metabolism, and urinary sodium excretion. We assessed the association between serum oxytocin levels and presence of metabolic syndrome (MetS) in older men.

Methods: Cross-sectional study was performed in 540 volunteer men aged 50-85yrs from the MINOS cohort.

Sex-specific autophagy modulation in osteoblastic lineage: a critical function to counteract bone loss in female.

Age-related bone loss is associated with an increased oxidative stress which is worsened by estrogen fall during menauposis. This observation has drawn attention to autophagy, a major cellular catabolic process, able to alleviate oxidative stress in osteoblasts (OB) and osteocytes (OST), two key bone cell types. Moreover, an autophagy decline can be associated with aging, suggesting that an age-related autophagy deficiency in OB and/or OST could contribute to skeletal aging and osteoporosis onset.

Neurotoxicant exposure during pregnancy is a confounder for assessment of iodine supplementation on neurodevelopment outcome.

Context: The developing brain is vulnerable to iodine deficiency (ID) and environmental neuro-toxicants.

Objectives: To assess neurocognitive development of children whose mothers have received (or not) iodine supplementation during pregnancy, in an area of borderline ID, while assessing in utero exposure to environmental neuro-toxicants.

Design/patients: Among 86 children born from normal euthyroid women who participated in our prospective interventional study on iodine supplementation (150 μg/day) started early in pregnancy, 44 (19 with iodine supplementation, 25 controls) were assessed at two years using the Bayley test.

Oxytocin and bone status in men: analysis of the MINOS cohort.

Unlabelled: Oxytocin, a neurohypophysial hormone, regulates bone metabolism in animal studies and postmenopausal women. In men, oxytocin is not associated with bone mineral density, bone turnover markers, or prevalent fractures, but weakly negatively with incident fragility fracture requiring further studies.

Introduction: We previously showed that serum oxytocin (OT) level is associated with bone mineral density (BMD) and bone turnover rate in postmenopausal women.

A negative correlation between insulin-like peptide 3 and bisphenol A in human cord blood suggests an effect of endocrine disruptors on testicular descent during fetal development.

Study Question: Does a relationship exist between insulin-like peptide 3 (INSL3) and selected environmental endocrine disruptors (EEDs) in human cord blood (cb)?

Summary Answer: In the whole population (cryptorchid and control boys) cbINSL3 correlated negatively with cb free bisphenol A (BPA) providing indirect evidence for an impact of EEDs on fetal Leydig cell INSL3 production.

What Is Known Already: INSL3 is a major regulator of testicular descent. This hormone has been shown to be decreased in cord blood from boys with idiopathic cryptorchidism, the most frequent male malformation.

Lack of copeptin elevation during induced myocardial infarction.

The specific kinetic of copeptin secretion during the course of an acute coronary syndrome (ACS) had poorly been studied, with most studies assessing copeptin levels in the very first hours of chest pain onset and not ACS itself. To overcome this issue, we took advantage of septal embolization technique for hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy (HOCM) treatment, a unique situation during which myocardial infarction (MI) is provoked, to measure plasmatic copeptin levels variation.

Iodine Supplementation throughout Pregnancy Does Not Prevent the Drop in FT4 in the Second and Third Trimesters in Women with Normal Initial Thyroid Function.

Objectives: The aim of the study was to determine the evolution of thyroid tests throughout pregnancy and postpartum in healthy women with and without iodine supplementation.

Methods: This was a prospective, randomized, interventional study of iodine supplementation (150 μg/day) from the first trimester until 3 months postpartum versus controls. 111 pregnant women with normal initial thyroid tests were enrolled, undergoing comprehensive thyroid assessment at each trimester.

Cord blood insulin-like peptide 3 (INSL3) but not testosterone is reduced in idiopathic cryptorchidism.

Background: Cryptorchidism, the most frequent congenital malformation in full-term male newborns, increases the risk of hypofertility and testicular cancer. Most cases remain idiopathic but epidemiological and experimental studies have suggested a role of both genetic and environmental factors. Physiological testicular descent is regulated by two major Leydig hormones: insulin-like peptide 3 (INSL3) and testosterone.

Oxytocin, a new determinant of bone mineral density in post-menopausal women: analysis of the OPUS cohort.

Introduction: Oxytocin (OT), a neurohypophysial hormone regulated by estrogen and leptin, may play a role in bone metabolism in humans as suggested by animal studies. This study assessed the relationship between OT and bone status in a large population of postmenopausal women.

Subjects And Methods: Subjects were included in the Osteoporosis and Ultrasound study, a 6-year prospective study in a population-based cohort.

Effects of sleeve gastrectomy in high fat diet-induced obese mice: respective role of reduced caloric intake, white adipose tissue inflammation and changes in adipose tissue and ectopic fat depots.

Background: Sleeve gastrectomy (SG) has become a popular bariatric procedure. The mechanisms responsible for weight loss and improvement of metabolic disturbances have still not been completely elucidated. We investigated the effect of SG on body weight, adipose tissue depots, glucose tolerance, and liver steatosis independent of reduced caloric intake in high-fat-diet-induced obese mice.

[Transfusions in the elderly: peculiarities and the role of nurses].

Given the prevalence of anaemia in elderly people and its consequences in terms of morbidity and mortality, transfusions are common procedures in geriatrics. A survey was carried out of 41 nurses working in geriatrics to discover the conditions in which these transfusions are carried out and the particularities of a transfusion in an elderly person.

Oxytocin and bone remodelling: relationships with neuropituitary hormones, bone status and body composition.

Purpose: There is growing evidence that oxytocin, which regulates appetite, plays a role in bone remodelling and improves osteoporosis. We previously showed a significant decrease in circulating oxytocin levels in postmenopausal osteoporotic women compared to healthy controls. However, factors involved in the pathophysiology of osteoporosis, such as estrogens and leptin, are known to regulate oxytocin secretion.